More than we can handle?

I have always assured myself that the Lord would never give me more than I can handle. This is sometimes the only thing that would get me through the rough times. At times, I would take things by 5 minutes. I would pray, please, help me get through the next 5 minutes. Once those minutes were over, I would pray for help getting through the next 5. In all my doctors appointments and time in waiting rooms lately, I have been doing a lot of reading in the book by Sheri Dew, God Wants a Powerful People.

I have found this to be a very inspirational book. However, in my reading on Friday, I came across the following that negates the one thing that has gotten me through some of the toughest times in my life.

"We often reassure each other that we won't be tempted beyond that which we can bear. But the scripture are actually conditional on this point. We are counseled to humble ourselves before the Lord, to call on his holy name, and to watch and pray continually so that we will not be tempted above that which we can bear. In other words, the promise is based upon our righteous actions (see Alma 13:28-29).

Further, the Lord does give us more than we can handle -- by ourselves, that is. He does this so that we will have every opportunity and motivation to seek Him early, to put Him first. He atoned precisely so that we would not have to shoulder our burdens or the disappointments of mortality alone." (page 89-90)

Okay, so this blows everything I've ever told myself on this topic out of the water. I guess I need to work on humbling myself so that he will not give me too much more than I can handle. This will become my quest, however, I think I will wait until after the baby is born.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

A "KNIGHT" to remember

So, this last Friday night (May 9th) we had the boys birthday party. We celebrated with a few of their closest friends at the Magic Castle. It was a knights and dragons party. Here are some pictures of the event.

The whole group eating.

The king and Dragon of the Magic Castle

Sorry this picture is so dark. Kennie was sitting in a corner and my camera was running out of batteries.

Justin opening his presents.

The cake and candles. (Funny story, one of the kids blew out Justin's candles while we were singing Happy Birthday. Justin was so close to tears. I just laughed!!

Nate enjoying his time at the Magic Castle. He had a blast.

Kennie turns 5!

Yesterday Kennie had his 5th birthday. He is so excited for kindergarten and all the fun things that come with being 5! His favorite is being able to get his pogo stick. He wanted one for Christmas, but it says for ages 5 and up so I told him he couldn't get one until he turned 5. So, he wanted the pogo stick for his birthday.

For his "big" gift from Aaron and I, we are combining Kennie and Justin's birthday presents and they are getting a trampoline. We will have it in a few weeks! They decided to do a combined birthday party, so we are having their party on the 9th, so you will have to wait for cake & Ice cream pictures until then! Here are some pictures of our family party though!

The pogo stick!

Justin and Nate got Kennie a Spiderman fishing pole and tackle box. There is a pond pretty close to our house that they stock with fish. It's a catch and release pond. So, Justin will probably get a fishing pole for his birthday and then Aaron can take them fishing!!

8 weeks and counting...

Okay, so technically 8 weeks and 3 hours. Tomorrow I hit 32 weeks. I have hit the point where everything is miserable. I can't do much of anything without it being a production. Take putting away the dishes for example. I can put away about 1/2 of the stuff with no problems, but anything above the 2nd shelf in our kitchen cabinets I can't reach unless I get out the step stool. Seriously, ridiculous!! Starting the 2nd of May, I have to go do the non-stress tests. It's a once a week thing where I have to be hooked up to the monitors and the watch her heartbeat and make sure everything is okay. I've had to do this with Kennie and Justin as well. All of this hoop-la is because I have Graves disease and am considered high risk. I guess you can look on the positive side and say that it just means that I am closer to my due date. The countdown begins!!

On a lighter note, my mom purchased her blessing dress a few days ago. Now I just have to get cloths to bring her home in. Aaron's one job is to pick out a coming home outfit but he waits until last minute. I just have a hard time believing that we are actually getting a girl. We have now had 3 ultrasounds that confirm that it is a girl and even the Ultrasound tech offered to wash all the cloths that I have for me because I told her I was nervous to wash them on the chance that it wasn't really a girl. I have given away all my boy stuff already. Enough rambling, I just thought I would update you.

Nate's fun filled weekend

Okay, so it wasn't much fun, but the weekend before Easter weekend, Nate ended up in the hospital for 3 days. He was admitted because of his high temperature and the fact that he wasn't eating. While there, the doctor thinks he developed a bacterial infection and his eyes were almost swollen shut and he looked like a mess. When Aaron came one night he asked what the other guy looked like.

Nate is a strong little boy and the nurses didn't give him enough credit. They were all taken back by how he could get out of their holds. He bent the board at his wrist and pulled out his IV. So, they had to put another one in and within 20 minutes of doing that, he had bent the board at the elbow and was trying to pull that IV out. That had to cover it 3 or 4 times so he couldn't get to it. Anyway, here are some pictures of his exciting weekend!

He became attached to his blanket and wouldn't let it go for anything!

A moments peace and quite for mom. These are the moments that I slept too. Aaron was on call all weekend so I was flying solo.

Once he started feeling better, nothing could stop him. He was running crazy! The nurses all just laughed at him. One quick note, the pink socks drove me crazy, but that's the only color they come in for his size. The next size up was WAY too big. ARR!!

Big props go out to all the folks in our ward. Kennie and Justin were taken into so many homes and looked after and I didn't even have to worry that they would be taken care of. We had meals after we got home. The people of our ward just gathered around us and took such good care of us. I am so Thankful to my Heavenly Father for surrounding me with people that would take care of us and lift us up in our time of need. We even have a few pediatric residents in our ward and one of them was on call in the NICU the night Nate was admitted. He came down and made sure we had everything we needed and the nurses even told me he came down a few times that night to make sure I was okay, but didn't want to wake me so he just peeked in on us. Thanks to an amazing ward!!!

Easter..a week late.

We did Easter the Saturday before Easter, and didn't go to church on Sunday Easter because I was sick and Aaron was working, so this past Sunday was the boys first chance to wear their Easter cloths. Don't they look great??

Photo Shoot

So, Justin got a hold of my camera. He and Kennie decided to do a photo shoot. Look at these talented photographers!

Winter Fun

You may have all heard about the snow that burried Ohio. We got 17 inches of snow in about 30 hours. People were going crazy and everything was closed/shut down. They cancelled church on Sunday, and since that is Aaron's only day off for 2 weeks, he had to shovel the snow. So, we got the boys dressed up and they went out and played in the snow for a while. Here are the pictures of them having fun!

Aaron's going to kill me for putting this picture in, but I couldn't resist. Look at how cool he looks with his pants tucked into his military boots!! Who needs snow boots when you have military boots. He cracks me up!!

This was the activity of choice for this snow day. They threw snowballs at the tree. They both thought it was great fun!

When it comes to snow, Justin is a whimp, just like his mom! He hates falling down at all. Never mind he has gloves and 4 layers on, he freaks out. He doesn't last very long outside. The only reason he lasted as long as Kennie this time is Aaron took them to a hill at the end of the street and they got to ride their sleds down the hill. They both thought it was great.

Kennie LOVES the snow. He would stay out all day if you would let him. His big obsession this time was throwing snowballs at his dad. He cried when we made him come in the house. He is always begging to go out in the snow. When he gets older, I'm not going to be able to keep him in the house! He is a good poser too!

A trip to the Newport Aquarium

On the last day of Aaron's 2 week vacation, we decided to take the boys somewhere fun. Aaron had for the most part healed from his surgery (look at the pictures later for an explaination for that one), so we headed to the Newport Aquarium, in Kentucky. They were having a killer deal that we couldn't pass up, with each adult, 2 kids got in free. That's the kind of deals we like. Anyway, this will be a long post because there are a TON of cute pictures.

Our family shot. Can you notice what Aaron's surgery was?? He had PRK (eye surgery kind-of like lasik). He doesn't have to wear glasses anymore. He wears sunglasses for the first time since I met him. He actually looks quite sexy!! (I love you hunny!). Aaron and I were joking on the drive home about the lack of planning for a group shot. Kennie, Nate, Aaron and I are all wearing different shades of red and Justin is wearing Oarnge. Oh well! Just a side note, you can't see Justin's shirt, but it is so fitting for him. It says, "My parents are exhausted." He thinks it is so funny and jokes about it. If only he knew how true it is.

All the kids, from left to right: Nate, Cameron, Dallin, Justin, Emmy, Karissa, Kennie, Caleb and Katelyn. We went with 2 of our neighbors and their kids. Not pictured: Aaron and Sassy, Lori Gregory and Deborah Heyward.

All the kids on the floor. This was at the shark walk through. They built a tunnel through the shark exhibit. You walk through and they are swimming all around you. It is pretty creepy!

This is the creepiest shark. It would swim over us opening and closing it's mouth. Yuck!

Kennie and Sassy feeling Condoleezza Rice. She liked to bite the cup of Nector. She was more interested in the bottom that what was inside. Kennie thought it was so funny!

Justin, Kennie and Emmy waiting for the shark.

Nate feeling the little Ray. He is not scared to touch anything!

Nate pretending to feel the shark. He just liked splashing in the water!

Okay, I saved the best for last. As you can see, Nate is obsessed with the image of himself in the mirror. He stood and ran into himself for like 5 minutes. This is so classic Nate!